IMPORTANT:
This version of Classilla is alpha-quality software.
Although improving, there are known bugs in this
version and it is possible you could experience crashes, information
leaks or data loss. You
use this software at your own risk. Read this page thoroughly before
installing Classilla on your computer.

System Requirements

Classilla requires any Power Macintosh with at least 64MB of RAM (virtual
or physical), 50MB of free
hard disk space and MacOS 8.6 or higher. A G3 processor
with 128MB of physical RAM
and OS 9.1 is the recommended minimum. (Although Classilla
will run on OS 8.5, due to
various bugs in that version we strongly advise updating to OS 8.6.)

Classilla is compatible with Apple Virtual Memory and Connectix RAM Doubler 9,
but this may cause unpredictable performance problems and is recommended only
for those systems with low physical
RAM ceilings (such as the PowerBook 1400). You will
observe better performance with adequate physical memory and
Virtual Memory off, and better still if you use a RAM disk for your cache.
You should also make sure you have adequate disk cache in the Memory
control panel, as poor disk caching can also slow Classilla down.

If you are using a system with 128MB of RAM or less, or want to run
Classilla on a system with less than 64MB of physical RAM, please see the
section on Running Classilla With Low Memory
below.

Upgrading From a Previous Version of Classilla

If you are upgrading from any previous version of
Classilla 9.x, your old profile, bookmarks,
preferences, mailbox and other user information will transfer
directly to Classilla 9.2.2. You do not
need to create a new profile to use this update, although as with any update,
you may wish to backup your profile (which is normally stored in your
hard disk's Documents folder, under Mozilla).

If you have any special plugins installed, be sure to copy them to a
separate folder, and copy them back
to the Plug-ins folder after installation,
as this process may overwrite them. Be sure to merge the two folders
together; Classilla periodically offers updates to plugins and you should
make sure you are using the latest versions available.

When updating from versions prior to Classilla 9.2.1, your NoScript
whitelist will
be erased when you update to this version. The format of the whitelist
changed in 9.2.1 with the introduction of Script-B-Gone,
and is not compatible with older versions. If you wish to
keep your whitelist, take note of the sites you have selected so that you can
re-enter them manually after the update. To avoid corrupting the whitelist
backing store, Classilla intentionally does not copy your old whitelist to
the new whitelist format.

Classilla is provided as a StuffIt archive, compatible with version 5 and later
of StuffIt Expander. You can unpack it by dropping the archive on your
StuffIt Expander icon, or opening it with StuffIt Expander.

To replace your old Classilla, make sure you have quit Classilla, then
drag the Classilla folder inside the unpacked StuffIt archive to your
Macintosh's Applications directory to replace the old version. Assuming they
have the same name, the Finder will replace the old folder with the new one.
You may then delete the archive folder.
To start Classilla, open the Classilla folder in your
Applications folder and double click
the Classilla application. Do not delete or move files in the Classilla
folder, as they are essential for its operation.

You can keep multiple versions of Classilla on your computer if you prefer
the features of earlier versions, although you should make sure that the
desired version opens your saved pages and URLs as they will all have the
same creator code. When opening old versions, if you make any changes to
the NoScript white list, they will be reset when you restart versions 9.2.1
or later.

If you experience problems with installation, report it with the
Classilla Report-A-Bug system. Please do not
file issues on Google Code; a triage reviewer will do that for you if
needed.

Upgrading From WaMCom, Mozilla or Netscape 7

It is recommended that you start with a fresh system and delete previous
profiles and versions
of WaMCom, Mozilla and Netscape 7 from your Macintosh, as they may
conflict with Classilla's proper operation. In addition, there are
new recommended default settings that previous profiles will not incorporate
and incorrect versions of these settings may cause adverse performance.
To clean your system, delete and remove the WaMCom, Mozilla or
Netscape folder from your hard disk,
then the Mozilla (or Netscape) folder in your hard disk's Documents folder,
then the Mozilla Registry (or Netscape Registry) file in your System Folder's
Preferences folder, and then empty the Trash.
You may also wish to restart your Macintosh and/or rebuild your
desktop to complete the process.

If you wish to keep your old bookmarks, you can save the HTML bookmarks file
from your profile and replace it after Classilla starts for the first time.
You may also decide to keep your mailbox files, although you will need to
re-enter your login and server information.
Do not keep or alter any other files. Replace these files only when Classilla
is not running.

Classilla is provided as a StuffIt archive, compatible with version 5 and later
of StuffIt Expander. You can unpack it by dropping the archive on your
StuffIt Expander icon, or opening it with StuffIt Expander.
Drag the Classilla folder inside the unpacked archive to your
Macintosh's Applications directory to copy it, then delete the archive folder.
To start Classilla, open the Classilla folder in your
Applications folder and double click
the Classilla application. Do not delete or move files in the Classilla
folder, as they are essential for its operation.

If you have no profiles (which will be the case if you followed the
instructions above), a new default one will be created for you
with default settings and bookmarks, and Classilla will try
to connect to the default Classilla Start Page. If this occurs successfully,
your installation is complete.

Otherwise, if you have an existing WaMCom or Mozilla profile and have
decided to preserve it anyway, Classilla will
attempt to use it. You should make sure that it acts correctly and that your
settings were preserved, and read Known Problems below to determine what
settings, if any, need to be changed.

If you are attempting to remove a profile (or your old profile), or add
a new one for another user, you can access profiles when Classilla has
started up by going to Tools > Manage Profiles.

If you wish to keep your old browser, you should still make a separate
profile in Classilla so that you still get the benefit of the updated
settings. You can still transfer your bookmarks and mailbox files to this
new profile once Classilla has started for the first time. Replace these
files only when Classilla is not running. To start Classilla in the profile
manager, double click Mozilla Profile Wizard, not Classilla. Make
sure that the expected application starts, as Classilla uses the same
creator code.

If you experience problems with installation, report it with the
Classilla Report-A-Bug system. Please do not
file issues on Google Code; a triage reviewer will do that for you if
needed.

If you have more than 128MB of RAM installed in your Macintosh, you do
not
need to read this section except if you are trying to optimize your Mac's
memory usage.

For optimum utilization of your Mac's RAM, Classilla uses two forms of memory:
preferentially its fixed allocation, assigned in the Finder, for the majority
of windows and tabs that are open, but also temporary memory, primarily for
images, if it runs out of regular memory. You can access the application's
memory settings from the Finder
by finding and selecting the Classilla application
in the Classilla folder, then pressing Command-I for its Get Info box.

Classilla requires approximately 40MB of RAM to start in a functional state
using a single window. You should not set its memory allocation lower than
this minimum, or you may make it impossible for Classilla to start up.
This minimum is intended for systems that just barely reach the 64MB RAM mark.
You should avoid opening multiple windows or large numbers of tabs on these
systems, as this may cause the browser to run out of memory
and quit unexpectedly.

Classilla prefers at least 60-80MB of RAM in order to keep multiple windows
open. The preferred allocation is intended to grab this amount of memory for
systems with 128MB of RAM or more, although on systems just at 128MB
of RAM it may prevent
other applications from getting sufficient memory. In that case, you may
reduce it down towards the minimum, but be advised that opening large numbers
of simultaneous windows and tabs may cause Classilla to become progressively
more unstable as you reduce its fixed memory allocation.

If it is not possible to install more physical RAM in your computer, such as
with systems like the PowerBook 1400 which are limited to 64MB, you can
dramatically increase stability at the cost of performance by using a virtual
memory manager. While this will make your Mac slower, you will be able to
give Classilla more "memory" to use, and this will allow the application to
be more stable. You can use Apple's Virtual Memory under the Memory control
panel, or a third-party system such as Connectix RAM Doubler, both of which
are compatible with Classilla. You should try to create as much virtual space
as your hard drive is able to accommodate; it is recommended that you create
a total of 128MB of memory or more (combined between your physical and
virtual memory), and allow Classilla as close to its maximum preferred
allocation as you can.

Although Classilla continues to eliminate known bugs, there are still
multiple known issues in this version of Classilla which could not be
fully eliminated before release. This bug cleanup
effort still continues. Read this section carefully before you use
Classilla.

The most important issues in this version of Classilla are listed below.
If you experience problems, report it with the
Classilla Report-A-Bug system. Please do not
file issues on Google Code; a triage reviewer will do that for you if
needed.
For more tips, suggestions and help, you might also
want to read the
official
Classilla FAQ.

Certain sites make Classilla quit unexpectedly.

There are several low-level system bugs in both JavaScript and layout, the
most serious of which may cause sites to appear wrong, leak data, allow
sites to escalate privilege, or cause the browser to hang, crash or quit
unexpectedly. Although this version of Classilla repairs many more of these
bugs, others remain.

Starting with version 9.2.1, Classilla now uses Script-B-Gone,
a front-end
to the NoScript script blocking
extension, to help prevent these bugs from triggering with casual
browsing. Just the same, however, you should only place sites in your
white-list (described below)
that you trust and appear to function correctly. If Classilla crashes, please
note the URL for our bug report site, then save all documents, close all
applications and restart your Macintosh. Report the bug when you resume your
browsing session. Please note that some sites will not function fully with
JavaScript disabled.

Script-B-Gone, by default, disables JavaScript completely
for all sites except
those you white-list. You can access Script-B-Gone
by clicking the S icon
at the bottom right of the window. If there are scripts that are currently
blocked on this page, Script-B-Gone will display the hosts and frames
being referenced; once you have selected the choice you want, click OK,
the page will reload, and the scripts will be enabled. You can also click
Options to manually control NoScript. If all scripts are already enabled,
Script-B-Gone will warn you and allow you to delete hosts from your whitelist
to block them.

If you choose to disable NoScript and
use JavaScript on all sites,
you may check the global JavaScript option in the Options window, but
because of the known security issues is at your own risk.

Some sites may prevent you from clicking links or viewing content
while JavaScript is enabled
due to these bugs. If the page you are browsing does not seem to respond to
your activities or clicks, or does not show content that you expect,
make sure that JavaScript is disabled and reload the
page.

Certain sites make Classilla very slow to render or appear to
freeze.

There are several low-level system bugs in both JavaScript and layout, the
most serious of which may cause sites to appear wrong, leak data, allow
sites to escalate privilege, or cause the browser to hang, crash or quit
unexpectedly. Although this version of Classilla repairs many more of these
bugs, others remain.

If a page takes a long time to display, it is possible that it is using
advanced or complex JavaScript that is not fully supported by Classilla
(or may require more CPU power than your Macintosh is capable of). You can
stop any executing script by holding down the Command key and pressing the
period "." key until you regain control of the browser. This will cancel
any layout or script task that is currently executing. Note that some
pages may not work correctly when you do this, and you should close the
window or tab and reload the page after
making sure that JavaScript is off, and/or that the site is
not in
your Script-B-Gone white list (see the instructions above).
However, Classilla will normally
detect a script that is taking an excessive amount of time to execute
and, after a timeout period, give you a chance to safely
abort the script or continue running it.

Certain complex layouts may also cause Classilla to take an excessive length
of time to display them, even if JavaScript is off.
If Classilla is still taking a long time to render a
page or seems to have stopped responding, you can also
cancel layout in the same manner
by holding down the Command key and pressing "."
(the period key).
Cmd-Period will then cause any layout or script
task the browser is working on to stop.
Hold these keys down until you have regained control of the browser.
Note that this may cause portions of the page to be displayed incorrectly,
as layout was interrupted before it could complete. If you consistently
need to abort layout on a particular site, please report it
to Report-A-Bug so that the problem can be further investigated.

Using Cmd-Period as an "all-stop"
is safe to do and does not require you to restart your computer, but cancelling
a script task during its execution may leave the current document in an
indeterminate state. After you cancel a JavaScript task, you should
close the current window or tab then reload the page with JavaScript off.
However,
if you are completely unable to cancel and must Force-Quit Classilla from the
OS to regain control, it is recommended that you save all documents,
close all applications and restart your Macintosh.

When I scroll certain sites, my browser window gets garbled.

Some sites use layout techniques that are not compatible with Classilla's
usual fast scrolling code, even though Classilla can display them otherwise.
If scrolling the page causes the display to become fragmented or garbled,
hold down the Command key as you scroll to update using a different
scrolling method. The alternative method is slower, but more compatible.
When you release the Command key, Classilla uses its selected default.

If you are on a site that requires you to Command-scroll frequently, you
can toggle slow scroll on by default by going to View > Use Slow Scroll,
which uses a slower but more complete scrolling method. You can also toggle
this setting by pressing Command-Shift-S. This will reload the page. This
setting is sticky and persists until you change it, even if you navigate to
a different site or quit the browser.

Certain sites say my browser is not supported.

Some sites such as banks and certain ASP-based systems
do not properly handle browsers they don't recognize. If a site does not
work on Classilla but does work on WaMCom, or the site complains it does
not recognize your browser, this may be the problem. You
can change the user agent that Classilla sends to servers by going to
Preferences and changing the setting in the User Agent panel. However, this
may enable features Classilla may not fully support yet. This setting is
sticky and persists until you change it, even if you navigate to a different
site or quit the browser. If you start the browser with a custom user agent
still selected, you will receive a warning.

I don't see everything on certain sites that I expect to see.

If JavaScript is disabled, you may need to enable it for some sites to work
at all. Remember that the default state for Script-B-Gone is to block all sites
unless you state otherwise. Most sites that absolutely require JavaScript
will detect this problem, and will direct you to enable it.

Otherwise, although Classilla's layout continues to improve, some pages
still cannot be viewed properly by the browser.
For those few very intractable sites,
Classilla includes a de-styling option which may allow the
site to be sufficiently navigable even though its design will be significantly
altered. To de-style a troublesome page, go to View > Use Style and
select None, and the page will reload with CSS styles disabled.
Use Style > None
will persist until you re-enable style sheets, even if you navigate to a
different site, or until you restart the browser.

Other known issues include the following:

When initially logging into Paypal, the browser may take an extremely
long time to render the initial page after entering your username and
password. This bug is known and is still being investigated.
If the browser seems to have stopped responding
while using Paypal.com, abort layout by
holding down the Command and period "." keys until you regain control of the
browser.

The helper applications list is not always populated in Preferences.
This is not a frequently used option, but if you need to modify it, see
issue
111 for a possible workaround.

Installing extensions is not
supported in this version of Classilla. This is by
design due to multiple compatibility issues.

Type-ahead-find does not respond on all pages. The Find dialogue
(Command-F) works more reliably.

If you close all other windows while a download is in progress, you
will not be able to open any other windows until the download dialogue box is
closed, even if your download is finished.
To avoid this, keep at least one other window open at all times.

HTTP/1.1 Keep-Alive offers higher network performance but
does not work on all sites and some will respond
with Bad Request errors. This is a point of ongoing investigation. For
this reason, Keep-Alive is set to off by default in this version of Classilla.
If you wish to use the higher performance setting, which works on the
majority of servers, you may enable it under Preferences > Advanced
> HTTP Networking. If you
experience inexplicable server errors, make sure that Keep-Alive is turned
off. Some proxies may also require it to be disabled.

Support for mice with scroll wheels is incomplete.

Java-based applications may not behave correctly or start properly on
classic Mac OS systems due to the obsolete Java Runtime Environments available
for these operating
systems. There is no known alternative. It is strongly advised that you not
run Java applets or applications on the classic Mac OS due to multiple known
security and stability problems. Classilla now defaults Java to off, and
provides a warning in the preferences dialogue. To use the MRJ Plugin, which
allows access to the most current version of the Apple Macintosh Runtime
for Java, make sure the MRJ Plugin is in your plugins folder, and enable
both Java and plugins. You should make sure that your version of the MRJ
is updated to 2.2.4 or later
(2.2.6
is recommended).

New Features

The following new features are introduced in this release of Classilla.
Cxx numbers in boldface correspond to the issue number that tracked this
issue or feature.

Classilla now supports built-in language packs (C151). German and
Japanese are now enabled, incorporating the previous separate Japanese
translation. Italian is scheduled for the next major release.

To select a language and/or region, go to Preferences >
Languages/Content, select your language and region, and click OK. You
must restart the browser once either setting is changed. Profiles default
to English. You may not delete locales or translations in this version
of Classilla. If you were using the Japanese or another third-party
translation, you should recreate your profile using the provided translations.
No other translations are supported at this time.

Issues Repaired (Major)

The following major issues were repaired in this release of Classilla.
Cxx numbers in boldface correspond to the issue number that tracked this
issue or feature.

The malicious certificates set generated during the Comodo RA
security break-in are now revoked (C158), even if OCSP is disabled.
For more information about this scope of this attack, see the referenced
issue and Mozilla bug M642395.

about:blank is now always granted permission to execute
JavaScript by Script-B-Gone (C150), eliminating an issue where sites could
cause it to spuriously appear in the frame list.

For convenience,
local file:// URLs are now always granted permission to
execute JavaScript by Script-B-Gone (C150). Be cautious about what files
you drop on the Classilla window, however.

SSL certificates self-signed with keys not authorized for signing will
now be offered to the user to review and accept, instead of unconditionally
failing with error -8102
(C156). This is the same behaviour as current versions of Firefox and
Camino.

The bookmarks file should now only be open on access, to attempt to
reduce the chance of corruption (C152).

The Customize Sidebar dialogue now will not let you remove the last
item to prevent an issue with corrupt profiles (C128). You must reorder your
sidebar entries to keep at least one at all times. Profiles already
corrupted by this issue cannot be repaired; you must create a new profile
if your Sidebar became empty due to this bug.

When editing bookmarks, you are now prevented from deleting the
Personal Toolbar Folder (C153), as it cannot be re-created once it is deleted.
Profiles missing this Folder cannot be repaired; you must
create a new profile if you have already deleted your Personal Toolbar Folder
by mistake.

The Window and Tools menus now correctly appear when the View Source
window is open (C85).

Command-W will now close the frontmost window always (C74), except for
Venkman which uses an incompatible method.

The non-functional Themes menu under View has been removed (C149). Use the
Preferences dialogue to manage your themes instead.

The non-functional checkboxes in the Window menu have been removed (C80).

Last appearance of the "I'm a PC" easter egg.

Complete Change List

The following Classilla and/or
Mozilla patches were applied or modified for application to
this release of Classilla.
Cxx numbers in boldface correspond to the issue number that tracked this
issue or feature; Mxx numbers correspond to the relevant
Bugzilla
number where applicable (/m, /mm = modified for Classilla; /p = partial
application).
Due to technical differences between
Clecko and Gecko, the scope of these changes may be different from that
originally intended, and some patches required extensive modification for
Classilla/Clecko.

Previous Versions

You can still download older versions of Classilla "while they last." Because
of security and stability improvements in subsequent versions, you should only
download the most current version for general
use. These older versions are offered only for comparison purposes
or for users who require or prefer the functionality of earlier versions.
They are no longer supported or updated.